


Persistence

by crystalfox



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 01:37:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13602858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalfox/pseuds/crystalfox
Summary: Leia needs to find Luke, and she will try anything.





	Persistence

Leia sat alone in her sparse quarters at the end of another long day. The Resistance had come into contact with a small contingent of the First Order, there had been some heavy fire but they had fled, sustaining only minor losses. However, they were losses nevertheless, and Leia always felt each one as if it was the first, although she was careful to keep her grief as private as possible. She was a leader, she needed to offer morale and hope, but it was exhausting and Leia felt very alone. 

Hopelessness was becoming a more and more familiar feeling, one that Leia was trying hard to rid herself of. _Things will get better_ , she thought, _the tide will turn in our favour._ And seeing the relentless hard-work and camaraderie around her helped slightly. The members of the Resistance fought tirelessly and Leia couldn’t have been prouder. Still, those hopeless thoughts kept returning. She knew she needed to focus on something else. 

So, she turned to the one thing that never failed to distract her - Luke. Or, rather, his whereabouts. She had tried desperately to contact him through the Force so many times she had lost count. She had used all her contacts and every single favour she was owed in an attempt to find him. Any lead, no matter how strange or vague, she had tried to follow up on. And _nothing._  He had disappeared so completely that if she hadn’t known through the Force that he was alive, she would have come to the conclusion that he was dead. 

She wouldn’t stop looking until she found him though. It was a frustrating, arduous search but buried deep in this was a kernel of hope - if she could just _find_ him, then she knew he would return to the fight, and they would win. They would help each other, like they had done so many times before. Together, they could bring down the First Order, just like they brought down the Empire. 

This was what Leia thought about as she settled onto her small bed, propping herself up with a pillow and closing her eyes. She reached out with the Force, feeling the energy and strength of it flow through her, and searched, once more, for Luke. She called out to him, willing him with all her might to answer her, to give her some sign. As usual, a deafening silence greeted her. There must be something she hadn’t tried? Surely, she hadn’t exhausted all her options?

Suddenly, an idea came to her. It was like a switch had been flicked, as though a light had come on in a dark room. Yes, she would try that. However, she wasn’t exactly sure _how_  to try this new idea of hers. She wondered why this hadn’t occurred to her before, after all, she knew that Luke had talked with Obi-Wan and Yoda after their deaths. Force ghosts he had called them. She had been mildly interested at the time but she had no desire to learn, perhaps, she mused, if she had been able to speak to her deceased parents, she would have felt differently. But this was a power for Jedis and since she barely knew Obi-Wan and she didn’t know Yoda at all, she never bothered to master it.

Now, she wished she knew how Luke did it. She wasn’t sure where to start but she felt keenly that if Luke could do it, than she could too. Keeping her eyes closed, she concentrated, clearing her mind as best she could, and reached out, using the same words she had spoken all those years ago.

”Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”

She felt her words echo into the vastness of the Force but there was no reply. She needed to try something different. Focusing on her brief memories of Obi-Wan, she painted a picture in her mind of him, attempting to remember his voice and his manner. She spoke the same sentence again, and again, using all the power she could muster. 

“I never thought I would hear those words again.” A kind voice spoke gently to her. 

She opened her eyes tentatively to see a young, handsome man wearing neat Jedi robes. Translucent with a soft, blue glow, he stood in the middle of the room. 

“Leia.” He smiled at her warmly, as if greeting an old friend. 

“Obi-Wan.” She breathed, slightly in awe of her own powers. He was youthful and trim, different from how she remembered but there was no doubt that the ghost in front of her was the Jedi master. Strange, she thought to herself, how they had swapped around - once she was young and he was old, and now it was the reverse. 

“It is very good to see you again.” He spoke tenderly and Leia was reminded of the fact that he had known both her biological and adoptive parents, that he had been at her birth, that he cared for her, just like he cared for Luke. It was odd - in a way, he was a huge part of her life, in another way, he wasn’t. After all, he’d always been closer to her brother, so she’d never really considered the links between the two of them. 

Now that he was here in front of her, she felt a burst of hope, confident that this would finally lead to Luke.

“It’s good to see you too.” She smiled genuinely, for the first time in awhile.

“I believe that I know why you wish to speak with me.” He spoke seriously, his forehead furrowed.

“Luke.” Leia nodded, clearly Obi-Wan sensed her urgency.

“Yes, although, I’m afraid I may not be much help.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“I am well aware of what is happening with the First Order, it is incredibly unfortunate that such an evil is once again spreading across the galaxy, and I also know that Luke is missing.” He sighed heavily, rubbing his beard, “We’ve been attempting to contact him but to no avail. He appears to be using the Force to block us, shielding himself from any sort of communication.” 

Leia pursed her lips, this information confirming her suspicions that Luke was purposefully concealing himself. It was disappointing that not even Obi-Wan had been able to get through to him.

“And there’s nothing you can do?”

“We will keep trying.” He shook his head sadly, “I just cannot believe that he would isolate himself like this.”

“I wonder where he would have gotten the idea from?” She asked slyly, raising an eyebrow. 

A slight blush spread across Obi-Wan’s cheeks, and he glanced away, “It is not something myself or Master Yoda is particularly proud of.” He paused, shaking his head again, before continuing, “And I would have thought, since Luke saw what exile had done to us, that he would have learned from our mistakes.”

“So, would I. But,” Leia sighed, “he’s not perfect, nobody is. And I’m not angry at him. I just wish he was here.”

“As I said, we will keep trying, however long it takes." Obi-Wan looked away, frowning slightly, "Even if we don't get through to him, it is possible that he will make the decision to come back on his own. There was one thing though, very recently your father sensed-"

 _"My father?"_ Leia interrupted, bristling at his words. "My father died on Alderaan, and he's wasn't a Jedi, so I'm fairly certain he's not _sensing_ anything right now."

While Luke had been curious about his biological father, wanting to understand him, Leia had not. She accepted that, at the end, he had helped Luke and defied the Emperor, but this last-minute defection to the Light could not make up for what he had done. She just could not forget the horrors he had inflicted across the galaxy, and, more personally, how he had loomed over her as she watched the destruction of her home planet and the murder of her parents.

Obi-Wan looked sheepishly at her, "Of course. Bail was a great man. I didn't mean...." He paused, sadness clouding his features, "Leia, I _am_ sorry, I misspoke."

She nodded her head curtly, not wanting the conversation to be derailed by this, and gestured with a wave of her hand for him to continue what he had been saying.

" _Anakin_ ," He began again meaningfully, "sensed that there was a shift, somewhere, in the Force - a change. What exactly it is, we are not sure. But I hope that it is an indication that something will happen soon."

Now, this was interesting. It was not exactly what she had been hoping for but it was _something_.

Leia brightened, "Something for the Light side?"

"Perhaps, but I must be clear," He cautioned, raising one hand warily, "we are not _sure_ what it means. And Anakin was the only one who was able to sense it."

Swinging her legs off the bed, she stood up confidently, a sudden idea taking hold, "One of our best pilots has recently gone to investigate a lead about a map to Luke. We're just waiting to hear back. Maybe...maybe this is what he sensed. Maybe this _change_ is the tide turning in our favour."

"I would urge you to not raise your hopes too much."

"Hope is all I have right now, Obi-Wan." Her eyes gleamed, and, for a second, Obi-Wan could see Padme's determination in her expression.

His mouth curved into a smile, and he decided it was time to go, "I should leave you now. But if you need me-"

"I know. Thank you."

She watched him fade, and then she was alone. However, she felt buoyed by a sense of optimism. Something was going to happen soon. Leia decided to go and check if there was any news about Poe.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I’m a new writer. Feedback/comment/constructive criticism welcome!


End file.
